Manufacturing figures weigh on Wall Street

By finance reporter Alicia BarryUpdated
Tue Apr 02 09:35:26 EST 2013

Wall Street slipped on Easter Monday as investors worried about weakness in the US manufacturing sector.

Private figures showed US factory activity grew by less than forecast in March as production slowed and orders eased, with the Institute for Supply Management's factory index falling to 51.3 in March from 54.2 a month earlier.

Economists had forecast a reading of 54.

Adding to the negative mood commodity prices including copper tumbled after economic reports from Japan, China and South Korea all missed estimates.

The Bank of Japan's Tankan index showed pessimism among large manufacturers, and data on South Korean exports and China factory output fell short of forecasts.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended fairly flat, down 6 points to 14,573, the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index retreated from an earlier record to close down 7 points to 1,562 and the technology focused Nasdaq Composite Index lost 28 points to 3,239.

European markets were closed for the Easter break.

The Australian share market is likely to follow Wall Street lower when it reopens today.

Investors will also be waiting for the outcome of the Reserve Bank's April board meeting, with most economists expecting the official interest rate to remain steady at 3 per cent.

At 9:20am (AEDT), the Australian dollar was higher against most of its major counterparts, fetching 104.3 US cents, 68.5 British pence, 81.2 euro cents, 97.3 Japanese yen and less than $NZ1.25.